75 mph speed limit hike motors through Michigan Senate

The Michigan Senate passed legislation that would increase some speed limits on Dec. 7, 2016.

(AP Photo/John Locher)

LANSING, MI - The full Senate on Wednesday passed a package of bills that would raise speed limits on some Michigan highways to 75 miles per hour.

The bill requires the Michigan Department of Transportation and Department of State Police to raise speed limits to 75 miles per hour on 600 miles of rural, limited-access freeways if a safety and engineering study deems it safe.

Speed limit raises will also be based on the 85th percentile -- a measure of current road activity that determines the speed 85 percent of drivers do not exceed.

That was important to Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, who shepherded the bill through the Senate. Using the 85th percentile takes into account how a road is being used and the current speed people are traveling, he said. For your average driver, hiking speed limits means people traveling at reasonable speeds on those roads no longer have to fear tickets or points on their licenses.

"We're pretty comfortable. Right now I'm thinking if we actually follow through with this... people, I think will see a difference. A good difference," Casperson said.

Under the bills, MDOT and the Michigan State Police have one year to raise the speed limit to 75 miles per hour on 600 miles if supported by speed and safety studies.

Young said he voted against the bills out of safety concerns. Michigan, he said, still had roads in poor condition.

"If we had like premiere, creme de creme, top grade A roads, yeah if you want to be Mad Max on the road or whatever else yeah, that's your business," Young said.

"But as far as I'm concerned with the roads in the condition that they're in right now I don't think that's necessarily a good look. I think we're going to put a lot of people's lives at risk, quite frankly."

The bills also allow for speed limit changes in other areas, including:

Speed limits on rural trunk line highways could rise to 65 miles per hour.

Speed limits on gravel roads in counties with populations over 1 million would decrease to 45 miles per hour.

Up to 900 miles of rural state trunk line highways would see hikes from 55 to 60 miles per hour.